


The Clover In The Woods

by Yass_Rani



Category: Ancient Greek Religion & Lore, Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: M/M, Slight kidnapping mentions, but its consensual, hades x persephone au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 10:48:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27469795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yass_Rani/pseuds/Yass_Rani
Summary: Aziraphale is somewhat happy, his life on Earth among humans is fun, but then there's a flash of black and red, and he's swept away by a single clover in the woods.
Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)
Kudos: 34





	The Clover In The Woods

Aziraphale loved his job.

He went through the forest of Eden, each day, talking to the trees and tending the plants. He’d been doing this for years – some of the trees were comfortable enough to drop fruit when he passed by every now and then. The plants were often cautious, but they softened up to the angel soon.

It was his typical routine – he’d come out of the little cottage he had been given, walk the familiar path down the flower bushes that the humans cultivated, past the cedars, greeting the oldest ones and acknowledging new ones. He walked through the fruit trees, scowled at the damned apple tree in the centre with humans all around it and proceeded on towards his ferns.

At first glance, Aziraphale seemed like someone that loved flowers and elegant vines, with the occasional preference for fruit trees. In reality, though, he loved ferns. He liked their rich green colours and their elegance. Of course, they were hard to tend to and took a lot of management, but with the love he gave them, they were lush and beautiful. He was proud of them. The verdant were the best around the forest – Aziraphale often saw humans admire them as they walked by.

Each day he’d tend to his ferns and stroll across to the calm lake to chat along with the bunch of yellow flowers across the bank. Narcissus weren’t the most clever beings he could talk to, but being an angel – he had to make do with their preening at the reflective sheen from the water. Not that he hated it, the flowers were truly a work of beauty, but it was a tad tiring, listening to them talking about nothing but their looks all day. Every now and then, a bunch of ducks would waddle over to him, quacking their thanks as he miracled pieces of bread for them.

One day though, however, it was different. He was tending to his ferns, calming them down from the rain last night and cooing at how beautiful they were – only to be disturbed by a rustle near him. Furrowing his eyebrows, Aziraphale decided to look for the source. Of course, the woods rustled every now and then, but this was a different sound. Like someone was there. He almost dismissed as a human, but then realised they couldn’t see him, and there was no way he could not have sensed one of them from a mile away. Walking towards the lake, he heard the rustle again. It sounded like… wings. Softer than his own, but still loud enough to not be a bird.

That’s when he saw him.

Crowley.

Black wings, sleek and shiny, huddled over the Narcissus, whispering something. Long waves of maroon hair peeking out from a hood that fell back from the wind, the figure turned to look at Aziraphale. After a second of deliberation, he rolled his shoulders, tucking the wings in. A silent acknowledgment.

“I’ve never seen you around,” Aziraphale ventured, offering a shy smile to the stranger as he walked towards him.

“Mm, mostly stay hidden.”

Smooth voice, Aziraphale noted. He probably didn’t talk much.

Moving to sit beside him, the angel sent an absentminded smile to the Narcissus, not realising their trembling.

\----

Days passed, and Crowley – as Aziraphale learned his name was – fell into his routine. Almost every day, right after he tended to his ferns, Aziraphale saw Crowley at the lakeshore. They’d chat, observe and discuss. Aziraphale found him rather intelligent. Much more so than those Narcissus, which, suspiciously seemed to be trembling the entire time Crowley was there, never once daring to speak of themselves.

A welcome change for Aziraphale. Strange, but still welcome.

On the days he wouldn’t be waiting for the angel, Crowley would leave something.

The first item was a quill. A note attached to it, stating that it was compensation for his absence – a gift of sorts for the Angel. Because the day before, they’d talked about Aziraphale’s fondness for writing.

A week later, Crowley didn’t show up for two days. On the first day, there was nothing, and Aziraphale thought he’d be back the next day. He wasn’t. Rather, there was a box of sweets by the lake the next morning. Pertaining to the conversation they had last time – Aziraphale’s fondness for writing.

The third time Crowley was absent, there was a heavy casket waiting for Aziraphale. Books. The ones he’d talked about every now and then. The ones he couldn’t find, or couldn’t obtain because some old snobby man had held on to it with no regard for its safety.

It wasn’t often that Crowley disappeared for a day or four, at once, but when it did happen, there was something waiting for Aziraphale no matter the circumstances. He took it without question, a smile on his face and a polite thank you which Crowley never mentioned or acknowledged, just opting to brush it away with a wave of his hand – the tug of his lips serving as the only cue for the Angel that he knew what he was doing.

One time, however, Crowley was gone for long. An entire month. Twenty-nine days of Aziraphale waiting anxiously for some sort of sign. There was nothing left for him either. Not a book, a letter. Not even a note. To say the angel was scared was an understatement. He’d come to know Crowley and regard him as something more than a good friend, and to not hear from him for a month worried Aziraphale to no end

Until one day, as he cooed at his ferns – which had wilted very slightly owing to his own mood – he caught something out of the corner of his eye.

A piece of cloth, holding something small, by the shore of the lake.

That morning, Aziraphale found a clover in the woods.

\----

That was months ago. Presently, Aziraphale was, to put it straight, in Hell.

This is not an exaggeration. He was truly in Hell.

It was nothing like he’d imagined. Nothing like the stories he’d heard from the other angels and his superiors.

The moment he’d picked up the single clover Crowley had left for him, Aziraphale was transported to a lush field. Cloudless skies enveloped everything as far as the eye could see, and beneath his feet, there was an endless stretch of clovers in every direction. There was no sound except for his own breathing until he heard a rustle of wings.

A rustle he was so, so familiar with.

Crowley walked towards him, a lopsided smirk on his face and yellow eyes bright with an unreadable expression, fiery red hair ruffling slightly in the breeze, long cloak flapping at his ankles. The next thing Aziraphale knew after barely processing the past ten seconds was walking into a long hallway, entirely black and grey highlighted with red, the occasional lamp providing minimal lighting. Leading him to a long dining table made of richly polished black wood, Crowley pulled back a chair, waving for Aziraphale to sit down, a soft smile adorning his features. Still stuck in the trance and confusion of being in a completely new place, Aziraphale sat down quietly, ignoring the way his angelic senses told him to get out of wherever he was.

“Angel, sorry for not seeing you for around a month. You must excuse me,” Crowley smiled, “I was, after all, making arrangements for your living here.”

Snapping out of his puzzlement, Aziraphale raised an eyebrow at Crowley.

“Wh- what do you mean by that, Crowley.”

Glancing at the pastry Aziraphale had just bitten into, Crowley grinned wider.

“Welcome to Hell, Aziraphale.”

\----

It was truly nothing like he’d ever imagined. Crowley had gone all out. The first couple of months, they had separate living quarters. Aziraphale had an entire library to himself, not to mention the huge bookshelf in his room which had exact copies of his books back home – he thought Crowley moved them all.

Which – he didn’t. The moment Crowley explained everything – including his intentions about bringing Aziraphale to Hell – he offered an out. He told Aziraphale he could opt out and walk out, but the Angel stayed.

He knew everything, and he decided to stay – because Heaven and Hell were opposing sides, but him and Crowley, he’d realised, were on their own side. They were driven out of love, both for each other and for the humans. (Crowley says he hates the humans but Aziraphale saw him with human children once, and he swore there was nothing more precious)

However, as they learned more about each other and fell into their own routine, Aziraphale made sure to go up to Earth every now and then to tend to his ferns and give some attention to the poor Narcissus – they barely had anyone but themselves, not that they minded in the slightest. Crowley had his own plants too, in Hell, but Aziraphale strongly disapproved of his growing methods. He _yelled_ at the plants! The poor things were terrified until Aziraphale spoke to them the way he did to his own ferns – They did grow freer and better after that, but Crowley refused to admit it even after a year.

Every time Aziraphale visited Earth, he’d bring back something – either for himself or for Crowley, and without fail, every time he wished to go back home, to Crowley, there would always be a clover in the woods.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it! Comment or leave kudos, your feedback is very much appreciated!! Ik it's been ages since I posted but highschool and exams have been killing me. ANyways, I did this for the Fake Fic Title challenge. You can send in a title either through my Tumblr 'yass-rani' or comment right here. Add specifics and a fandom if you want to, or if you'll leave it to me to decide, that's fine too. :) 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


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